4 Attachments

Thank you for your email asking for information about IT software. Your
request is being considered under the terms of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 and will be answered as soon as possible within 20 working days.

Thank you for your email of 18 August 2015 asking for information about IT software used by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

In answer to your first question the IPO uses ORACLE Financials and we have approximately 100 users. The answers to questions 2 to 6 are withheld for IT security reasons. The exemption provided by s.31(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act permits public bodies to refuse information, the disclosure of which could prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, and we are relying on this exemption because exact knowledge of software versions and upgrade dates may be of assistance to persons intent upon attacking the IT systems of government agencies. That is not to say we believe this to be your intention, merely that we have to regard disclosure under FOI as a disclosure to the world at large.

Section 31 provides a qualified exemption, which means that we are required to consider the balance of the public interest in deciding whether to maintain the exemption or disclose the information. Having weighed up the arguments in favour of disclosure and refusal we have concluded that the risks to our systems of providing you with the all the information you require outweighs any public interest in disclosure.

We have also withheld the identity and contact details of the person responsible for our use of this software because it consists of personal information of a civil servant who does not occupy an outward facing role. Section 40(2) of the FOI Act provides that personal data is exempt if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the Data Protection Act where, as on this occasion, it would be unfair to that person.

The answer to question 8 is given at 1 above and question 9 does not apply.

In answer to question 10 the IPO follows all government guidelines on procurement.

In answer to question 11 the exact date of the support and maintenance licence renewal is withheld for the same reasons as our refusal to answer questions 2 to 6, but we are content to say that renewal is due during the first quarter of 2016. The value of the last invoice was > £125,000.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and you may request a review by submitting a customer feedback form via our website at:
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about/feedback/fee... or by emailing [Intellectual Property Office request email] .

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: